“I welcome the fact that last night Libya’s General National Congress approved the Cabinet that Prime Minister Zidan presented on 29 October. This was an important step forward for Libya. I congratulate the new Ministers on their appointment and look forward to working closely with them in the coming months. They face significant challenges to improve security, provide services to their people and protect fair and equal rights for all. I hope that they will agree a plan to address these challenges, with the backing of Libya’s General National Congress.

“The UK will give strong support to these state building efforts. Our assistance will range from support to the police and security ministries to advice on diversifying and strengthening the private sector, as well as projects designed to help Libyan civil society activists engage with their Government. We have also conveyed to the new Prime Minister our willingness to do more to help the new Libyan Government as it seeks to build a secure and prosperous country based on the principles of human rights and the rule of law.”